Town staff recommend annexation of Oak Ridge Farm site; commissioners raise traffic and design concerns

Veronica Bateson, planner 2 with Planning and Community Development, presented AX-2025-07, a voluntary annexation request for a 4.697-acre site at 754 Oak Ridge Farm Highway that applicants seek to annex for access to town utilities and to be governed by the town’s HLI (hybrid light industrial) zoning by right.

Bateson said utilities are available with no capacity issues and that the site lies within the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction; fire services said they can respond within the five-mile coverage area and four-minute response time to Station 6. She warned the property has development constraints, including a sewer-line easement, a stream buffer running through the parcel, and it is within the WS-2 watershed district, where development is limited to roughly 12 percent of the tract.

The proposed use is permitted by the HLI zoning that the property already bears and staff said that, given the footprint constraints, many of the broader uses listed in HLI are unlikely to be feasible on this particular site.

Commissioners asked about traffic and driveway placement near the nearby Overhead Bridge and Selma intersection and expressed concern about safety and turning movements on U.S. 150. Staff said the concept layout before the board is a staff-reviewed concept that remains subject to technical review and is not binding on the annexation action; any changes to driveway placement would be addressed during plan review and by NCDOT when rights-of-way or driveway permits are required. "This concept plan is what they have proposed, it has not been finalized. There can be changes made, but it would not be linked to this annexation request," Bateson said.

No final vote on annexation was recorded at the discussion; staff found the site met statutory requirements for voluntary annexation and will return with the formal annexation ordinance and related materials.